Tobacco-stemming machine.



Li. H. GERDING. TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE.

APPLIQATION FILED Nov. 14,1910/ Patented Augzll, 191i 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.,

OQM Je GERDING.

TOBACCO STEMMING MACHINE. APPLIOATION FILED NOV. 14, 1910.

1,107,056. Patented Aug. '11, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Affair r [ave/2502*.-

UNITED STATES PATENT oEFIoE.

LOUIS HENaYenR-mne, or BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, 'ASSIGNOBWBY nEsNE AssIGm MENTS, TO THE 'roneoco STEMMING MACHINE COMPANY.

TOBACGO-STEMMING Macrame Specification of Letters Patent: Patgnted Aflg, 11,-1911 1-,-g

Application filed November 14, 1910. Serial No. 592,392.

moving stems from tobacco leaves and particularly to that class of such machines of which an exampleis found in-U. S. Letters PatentfNo. 888,835, issuedMayfloth, 1908,- in the name of John 0. Morris, and in which strippers for holding back the blades of the'le'af and tearing them from the advancing stems, are covered with card teeth, and are held Without advancement while the stripping action is taking place. The present invention retains the principle of utilizing card teeth as abarrier fortlie blades of the leaf while the stem is drawn through but utilizes a novel disposition ofv the card members. 7 i

i In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a sideview of a machine embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a view,o fthe stripping rolls. Fig. 3 is a tectional view taken longi tudinally of the stripping rollsfwith associated mechanism partly in" elevation and partly in section. Fig. i'is a detail view of .the guides for the carrier-chains 'of the gripper jaws. Fig. 5 .is a side view of the gripper jaws. Fig 6' is a detail; view of means for rotating the stripper rolls.

The stripper rolls) are. covered with card teeth 41 as shown in Fig. 2, and'to them the tobacco leaves are presented by gripper bars 1" on upper and lower pairs of carrier chains, wZich-as well known, passaround sprocket w eels and are driven to cause the gripper I bars to move in a direction from right to.

left of Fig. 2, to thus draw the stems between the stripping elements. The blade of the leaf in the stripping action collects in front of the stripping rolls, as shown at 3, while they stem is carried 'on by the gripper bars.

The stripping rolls are controlled so that they will have no tearingactionon the blade of the leaf, such as would result from rotating the stripping elements rapidly as the leaf is presented to them and the stem. is being drawn betweenthem. -They are given a' slow rotation in a direction opposite'to the drawing in gmovementv of the gripper bars so that they will-be constantly acting to 'clear'themsel-ves of the accumulated leaf.

By this, instead of bunohing up the leaf against the deflected card teeth and thereby tearing the stem from it, the collected blade is continuously rolled out and back so as to develop abetter stripping action of the teeth alongthe sides of the stems instead of a tearing action, due to drawing the stems through the collected bunch of blade. Among the practical advantages arising from this slow clearing action during the time of actual stemming, is the avoidance of strain on the stem due to the compacting of the bunch of blade about it and thus liability of breaking of the stem is avoided during this period. Inaddition to this slow rotation ofthe stripping, rolls, they are given a'quickrotation to clear or throw out the accumulated blade or bunch and present a new section of .the 'card teeth in position to do the next stripping. This quick rotation is given in the same direction that the slow motion takes place, viz: backward in respect to the drawing-through movement of the gripper bars, as shown in Fig. 2 by the arrows.

The continuous slow movement is given to the stripping rolls by belts 48' passing around pulleys 43 on the shafts of the strip-- pipg rolls. these belts being driven by the pulley l3, which is driven through a chain ffltand sprocket wheels, one on the shaft,

ofthe sprocket about which the lower carrier chain passes, thisshaft being'driven through chain 88 and sprockets 3940.,-' The quick or clearing rotation of the strip ping rolls or elements which follows the slow stripping rotation is given by ratchetwheels 6, fixed on the shafts 5 of the stripping rolls, pawls 7 pivoted to loose gears 8 engagethese ratchets and rack bars 9 engage the gears. These rack bars are operated by a lever ll'pivotally mounted at 11?- on the frame and having an arm 11 with a cam shaped end 11 to be depressed by cam blocks 34: on the lower gripper bar carrier chain. This quick movement of the rolls is in the samedirection as the slow movement, being indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, for clearing the rolls of the accumulated blade and for bringing a new section of the roll into play for performing the stripping.

When this quick clearing action occurs the carrier chains 34 running between the guide rails 34* of the frame, they are adapted to hold a series of stems between them, not

, withstanding the fact that said stems may be of different thicknesses. It will thus be seen that the guides 34 not only serve to cause the chains to be roperly'directed but they exert control over the gripper bars to make them perform their proper functions.

-To satisfactorily arrest the blades of the leaf and tear them from the stems, as the stems are drawn forward by grippers 1, it is necessary thata substantial portion ofthe body of the strippers 2 close upon the leaf 3. "It is also desirable that the card clothing -4 of the strippers 2, on at least the side of approach of the leaves, be cylindrical, in order that a rotary discharging movement of the strippers may be effected after each stripping action has been performed to the desired degree; said dischargingpr clearing action being also desirable for presenting constantly changing portions -of thecard clothing. at the stripping point. Efiective stripping commences about at the time when the grippers 1 reach a point in line with the centers of the strippers, although final stripping takes place at a point considerably in advance thereof. Should the radius of'the cylindrical portion of the strippers be relatively large, stripping would commence too far back ,of the butt of leaf and there would be considerable waste, particularly if working with small leaf tobacco, such as the Cuban or some grades of northern tobacco. Accordingly, I make the diameter of the cylindrical portion of the strippers, measured to the ends of the card teeth, proportional to the length of leaf to be stemmed. This feature may be embodied either in strippers composed of endless belts of card surface running around stripping rolls, or the feature may be embodied and is preferably embodied in strippers comprisinga pair of cylindrical card members 2, as herein shown.

I employ a suction receiver 48 and air trunk 50 and suction fan 51 for removing the blades when cleared from the stripping rolls.

It will be observed that while the carriers for the gripper bars are flexible they are held by the guides in which they travel against flexing as they are presenting the gripper bars with the leaves to the stripping rolls and, notwithstanding the fact that the stripper elements have a relative separating and approaching action and in the latter action, exert more or less pressure upon the gripper bars and leaves, said gripper bars tween the stripping members and in a direction opposite to the slow surface travel of the stripping members where they engage .the leaf and stem and means for accelerating the rotary movement of the stripping elements, the slow rotation constantly clearing the blade and the accelerated movement completing the clearing of the blade from the stripping means, substantially as described.

2. In combination stripper rolls, means for presenting the tobacco leaves to the rolls and for drawing the stems between the rolls, a slip-drive for the stripper rolls for rotating them in opposition to the travel of the leaves, and a positive drive for giving aecelerated rotary movement to the stripping rolls, substantially as described.

3. In combination stripper rolls, means for presenting the tobacco leaves to the rolls and for drawing the stems between the rolls, a slip-drive for the stripper rolls for rotat ing them in opposition to the travel of the leaves, and a positive drive for giving accelerated rotary movement to the stripping rolls, and means for automatically and periodically rendering the positive drive operative, substantially as described.

4. .In combination a pair of stripper rolls, carrier means for the leaves to present them to the stripper rolls and to draw the stems between them, and driving means giving the rolls a slow continuous rotary movement and'a quick rotary movement in opposition tothe traveling movement of the leaves, and means for timing the said movements relative to each other.

The foregoing specification signed at Baltimore, Maryland.

LOUIS HENRY GERDING.

In presence of two witnesses:

HENRY CLAY LINSTID JAoons, MEYER ScoLL. 

